King Canute, king of England, Denmark, and some other places had followers who thought he could do anything. He had his throne placed way out on a beach at low tide and commanded that the tide not come in. Of course it came in and he had his throne moved back a bit. The tide kept coming in. Repeat move. Repeat incoming tide. Finally Canute declared that only God could control the tides. One hopes that his followers were appropriately chastened.
The House Republicans have followers who want them to do certain dogmatic things. The House Republicans have voted 37 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The Senate has not acted on this or has voted against the repeal. The House Republicans are ignoring the tide of history that eventually most of the world will have universal healthcare, where rich and poor will have adequate health care at a minimal personal cost. Will this tide drown the Republican Party?
Showing posts with label Universal Healthcare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Universal Healthcare. Show all posts
Monday, June 17, 2013
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Helping the sick and injured is age-old
Many hunter-gatherer cultures helped those who could not contribute fully. Many of us have read stories about hunter-gatherer cultures caring for the elderly and healing the sick, but do we know how much they cared for those younger who could never contribute a great deal to the group?
As it is, archeologists have found cases of primitive societies caring for people that couldn't even feed themselves or could not keep up as the group traveled. See "Ancient Bones that Tell a Story of Compassion", James Gorman, New York Times, 2012-12-17.
The archeologists, Lorna Tilley and Mark Oxenham, ask "what care for the sick and injured says about the culture that provided it."
These pre-historic cultures were close-knit communities that knew all of their members. It is hard not to care for those in a small community. But what happens as the community becomes larger, more diverse, and more dispersed? Children move to another city or even another country. People associate more with those at the factory or office than they do with people on their own block. Driving out the garage and down the street we may not even meet many of our neighbors. We don't know who is sick and disabled. Even when we know our own neighbors, we aren't aware of all of their problems. It took a mail carrier asking a neighbor about my step-father before anybody realized that he had died.
Even when we know a neighbor is ill, do we have the skills needed to care for the neighbor? Our expectations of health-care are much higher than in pre-historic times. In the last few centuries, charitable groups established hospitals to take care of people who couldn't be cared for at home. But our expectations became even higher and many of those groups could not raise sufficient funds to give care to all who needed it. Hospitals needed to charge all comers in order to have the funds; those without enough money often did without needed care.
If we are to replicate in today's dispersed societies the attention given to the sick and injured in primitive societies, wouldn't we need to have universal health care? We still must ask "what care for the sick and injured says about the culture that provided it." We certainly have many politicians who are more concerned with guaranteeing people access to guns than guaranteeing people access to health care.
As it is, archeologists have found cases of primitive societies caring for people that couldn't even feed themselves or could not keep up as the group traveled. See "Ancient Bones that Tell a Story of Compassion", James Gorman, New York Times, 2012-12-17.
The archeologists, Lorna Tilley and Mark Oxenham, ask "what care for the sick and injured says about the culture that provided it."
These pre-historic cultures were close-knit communities that knew all of their members. It is hard not to care for those in a small community. But what happens as the community becomes larger, more diverse, and more dispersed? Children move to another city or even another country. People associate more with those at the factory or office than they do with people on their own block. Driving out the garage and down the street we may not even meet many of our neighbors. We don't know who is sick and disabled. Even when we know our own neighbors, we aren't aware of all of their problems. It took a mail carrier asking a neighbor about my step-father before anybody realized that he had died.
Even when we know a neighbor is ill, do we have the skills needed to care for the neighbor? Our expectations of health-care are much higher than in pre-historic times. In the last few centuries, charitable groups established hospitals to take care of people who couldn't be cared for at home. But our expectations became even higher and many of those groups could not raise sufficient funds to give care to all who needed it. Hospitals needed to charge all comers in order to have the funds; those without enough money often did without needed care.
If we are to replicate in today's dispersed societies the attention given to the sick and injured in primitive societies, wouldn't we need to have universal health care? We still must ask "what care for the sick and injured says about the culture that provided it." We certainly have many politicians who are more concerned with guaranteeing people access to guns than guaranteeing people access to health care.
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
For your bedtime reading pleasure: America's Affordable Healthcare Choices Act of 2009
I received an email response to my webmail about healthcare to Rep. Jim Oberstar. It is lengthy and many of you may have already received a similar response. One interesting item was that he provided a link to find the text of the bill, H.R. 3200. Go to http://thomas.loc.gov, enter the bill number, H.R. 3200, select the bill number button, and then click search.
I was curious because I doubt many voting either way will read the bill in its entirety. I read somewhere that it is bigger than the Old Testament and New Testament together. I stopped at the table of contents - 12 pages!
I hope this sausage is palatable.
I was curious because I doubt many voting either way will read the bill in its entirety. I read somewhere that it is bigger than the Old Testament and New Testament together. I stopped at the table of contents - 12 pages!
I hope this sausage is palatable.
Is this an example of the "finest health care in the world"?
See "Stop Trusting the Health Insurance Crooks", Allison Kilkenny, Huffington Post, 2009-08-05
I found it uncomfortable to watch all of the Congressional testimony included in this article. How many cases like this happen and how often? My guess is too many and too often.
At least we get to elect the bosses of government bureaucrats. We can't say the same about the bosses of corporate bureaucrats.
I found it uncomfortable to watch all of the Congressional testimony included in this article. How many cases like this happen and how often? My guess is too many and too often.
At least we get to elect the bosses of government bureaucrats. We can't say the same about the bosses of corporate bureaucrats.
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